ArmYouth Blog

2007-03-01T02:02:00.000-08:00

Demonstrating a Half Joke, Half Serious Exhibition

Not enough for you?
Come and you’ll get it

Kes katak, Kes lurj CuYcahandes
marti 4-in, 13:00
Komitasi ardzani mot

sksela blog

Demonstrating a Half Joke, Half Serious Exhibition
When: March 4 at 13:00
Where: meet near Komitas statue

With Barekendan, it began.

“Sksel a” is now back at it and this time, just don’t think too much about it and join us on Sunday, March 4th.

Still not enough for you?

“Sksel a” literally means it has begun. We are urging all Armenian citizens to get out and stand up for your rights.

Open your EYES and really SEE what is happening around you.

At our precedent event of Barekendan, we paraded throughout the streets calling out to people “wake up” after a long and passive winter. This coming Sunday we will continue our activities of stirring things up in civil society. The Parliamentary Elections are just around the corner in May 2007 and Armenian citizens really need to wake up and get involved if there is to be any changes for the better.

MORE AT ....
Bekaisa

2007-02-12T01:59:00.000-08:00

Sksel a jhoghovurt!!
http://barekendan.tripod.com/
People, it has started!!

Hrameceq, imaceq
Come and see what it's all about

INFORMATION ON FLIAR IN ENGLISH
February 18th at 13:00 near Komitas statue in front of the Conservatory
"Come and get your share of oil and rice"

HIV/ AIDs Informational Action

2007-02-10T03:56:00.000-08:00

Issues related to HIV and AIDs are very common nowadays. We hear about it every day: in news , in journals and papers, a lot of books are being printed about these problems in the world.

Obviously Armenian society is not aware of it as well. Assuming that people in Armenia, especially the students, don't have satisfactory information about it , the IREX- fellows decided to hold a HIV/ AIDs informational action at Yerevan State University. The promotion happened on Dec 12, 2006. For doing it alumni collaborated with many NGOs, one of which was APEC NGO ( AIDs prevention education & Care), they supplied 1500 brochures about HIV and AIDS. Those were distributed to our students. For making the atmosphere more relaxed and friendly there was a music and food - give away ( candies, cookies and juice).

The mission of the action was to calculate the percentage of the students who know what the HIV is , what are the ways of transmitting the desease, if they know the differences between the HIV and AIDs etc. A lot of students from the faculty of sociology volunteered for the project, so we could manage it. Special mini - test forms were designed, and our volunteers asked those questions to the students. At the end of the questions the right answers were given to them, so they can read them after being intrigued from the questions.

So here are the results:
Out of 916 surveys - Only 5% is fully informed about the case, 14% is enough informed about the issue, 73 % has a very little and wrong knowledge , 8% doesn't have any idea about this big issue.

So as the results showed our students are not informed about the case, and I should admit they were not that interested in the presentation, some of them even thinks that its not a problem for the Armenian society, some girls found it offensive to answer to the questions about HIV / AIDs and STDs etc. This project is supposed to have more promotions, ad on a TV , and one more public action in spring, so we try our best to convince the people that this is a very important issue , and should be taken into consideration more seriously.

This project became real due to the hard work of IREX alumni, IREX office , Department of State of US and many volunteers from the universities.

Lets prevent our society from getting the desease and spreading it.

We can prevent it as much as we can only with your help, support and understanding.

2006-11-20T05:08:00.000-08:00

From A1+
an article ... in response to the protest?

Who are we kidding here? Yes Armenians are allies with Russia and yes they are strategically important. But why do Armenians place SUCH emphasis on this relationship... to the extent in which they are almost turning attention away from a skinhead, fascist movement developing in Russia.

Social / News
«THEY DON'T KILL ARMENIANS FOR BEING ARMENIAN»

[04:47 pm] 20 November, 2006
«Suppose we renounce Russia... What shall we do? Whom shall we cooperate with? », Ara Abrahamyan, the head of the Union of Armenians in Russia, asked a rhetorical question. He is sure hat Russia is the «strategic partner» of Armenia, «Armenia is a small and independent country; it must have a program and an ideology», Ara Abrahamyan said adding that the relations of Armenia with other countries must not develop at the expense of the relations with Russia, but vice versa.

As for the murders of Armenians in Russia, Mr. Abrahamyan claims that it is not against Armenians. According to him, they kill 25 times more Azeris than Armenians; the problem is that the Union of Armenians in Russia is an organized structure, that's why we are better aware of facts about killing Armenians. According to him, the Union turns to corresponding structures in Russia in order to reveal the murders, but only within the limits of law, «What else can we do? ».

We know they are not just Armenians that are being murdered! Anybody who has studied Soviet history will go and see that Jews were also victims. Why doesn't Abrahamyan mention the fact that they are practically deporting the Georgians out of the country? Maybe because it is important to measure Armenian national standards against Azeri? Considered to be the "black people" of Russia, people from the South Caucasus have had been persecuted and discriminated quite a bit within recent history.

The murder of Arthur Haroutyunyan, the head of the Murmansk branch of the Union of Armenians, is the center of attention of Ara Abrahamyan, but he finds it too early to express an opinion. Nevertheless, he thinks that it was a murder not on national grounds but rather on economic ones. Arthur Haroutyunyan engaged in banking and realty trade.

Ara Abrahamyan claims that he has not yet decided whom to stand by during the Parliamentary elections. He said they Union will answer the question in January of the next year. He added that the RA authorities must see the future and not discuss the mistakes of the past. Nevertheless, he assured that they do not criticize the RA authorities abroad, “they say everything here”.

Anyway, this whole attitude of looking towards Russia as a great friend and ally is nothing new. I am not against having Russia as a strategic ally, but maybe it's time to consider who Armenia should be considering as a role model. Shall this small country seeking to consolidate its democracy and civil society, seek towards looking at Russia as a role model within this realm as they are a "similar group of people"? Well, if the country heads towards that direction, it will be a bumpy road ahead...

Links and Thoughts about the Protest on November 17th

2006-11-20T04:13:00.000-08:00

I actually will not write to tell about the protest action which took place, as others have already reported about the event, much better than I ever would have…

I will refer you to the following links:
Onnik at One World Multimedia has a good summary of the day’s events, pictures and links to news articles. (He commented in the last post with the link but I wanted it to appear in the article so it would be more obvious to the eye)

He refers us to Armenia Liberty for one of the media releases about the events, as that is his preferred news source. It’s also my preference as well… so here is that link:YOUTHS CALL FOR ACTION TO STOP KILLINGS OF ETHNIC ARMENIANS IN RUSSIA

One of the youth activists in the event, Isabella Sargsyan is also keeping a blog of her own and here is the link Свет в августе.
And finally, Julius who has just joined as a contributor on this blog, is posting his own pictures on a newly established blog All Folks blog

Please let me know if there are other Blogs who reported this event – if I missed any.

On another note, during the protest action I approached those who were passing by and asked if they were in agreement with us, to sign the letter we would present to Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanian. (I will get the translation of that ASAP!!!!) I just wanted to share with you some remarks and sociological observations I made that day regarding Armenians and protest actions:

- There were many people who agreed with us, that it was wrong that such barbaric murders of ethnic Armenians were happening in Moscow. (For such a proud ethnic group, it would be difficult for them not to agree!) And even though they agreed, many people were hesitant to sign their name on the letter to the Foreign Minister. Others refused to have their pictures taken while they were signing. On top of that, after they signed their name, one of them asked “so will they now come after me?”

COMMENT: a bit of the “Soviet hangover” shall we call this?

- There was an older man who approached me and said in Armenian (approximately these words) “this is great and all, but it’s not going to get you anywhere. I agree with you but I won’t sign.” And then continued to tell me how the Foreign Minister really could care less about this all, he would not come down to say anything and that in the end none of this would make a difference.

COMMENT: I tend to disagree.

- There was an older woman who was walking by and as I asked her to sign the letter against the fact that Armenians were being murdered in Moscow she told me, “they are doing a good job!” Surprised, I responded and asked, “why do you say that?” and she said, “Because Armenians shouldn’t be living in foreign countries. Let them come and live in their own homeland. What are they doing living on foreign soil….”

COMMENT: Another fascist in the making…

- We went inside to present the petition with over seven pages of signatures added onto the original letter. I will not name people, but say that one of the representatives at the Foreign Ministry asked me– so what is all this for? Can’t you see that we are doing all we can already?... What is Oskanian supposed to do in response to these murders? When Kocharian went to Moscow, he was not very welcome. This will only “sharpen” (aka increase the tension in) the relations between Armenia and Russia.

COMMENT: So shall we ask for permission from the Skinheads who are committing these murders to please stop “sharpening” this tension between Armenia and Russia?

And just an overall comment…

It seems as though there is SOME hope after all in regards to the youth and trying to make some changes in Armenia. While I had received some indifferent attitudes from youth who were simply passersby and refused to sign the letter, there were these young activists who stayed up until 5am the day before to make these posters.

There are times when I think that the young Armenian population is so cynical and they feel as though they do not belong to this society. “Ahh, what does it matter if I litter this bag, it’s not MY street anyway.” Or “this country has no future, the only thing I can do is leave” – these are things I hear practically everyday from so many young people. And this is a rather prevalent attitude throughout the country.

Yet there is a flipside to this as well. A small, warm and increasing movement of interested young people is seeking to take their future into their own hands. These are some of the activists you see in these photos. They see that what is happening in their country is not right and they want to do something about it.

This IS the hope for Armenia.

Thanks to Julius, EVS Volunteer in Armenia, for taking the photos in this article

murdered...because they were Armenian

2006-11-16T23:57:00.000-08:00

Narek Kocharyan, 15 years old - killed in Podmoskovie, Russia a few days ago...just because he was Armenian.

Within the past few months, Vigen Abrahamyants, Samvel Tadevosyan and Narek Grigoryan have also ethnic Armenians been killed in Russia... because they were Armenian.

Moreover, according to Regnum.ru "at least 3000 Armenians were killed in Russia within the past ten years."...

Unfortunately, the Russian government is not taking many actions to fight against these barbaric murders and the trend is not going away anytime soon. Several times, there have been recently organized (within the past two years) in front of the Russian Embassy in Yerevan with hopes that there would be an apologetic statement or some recognition of such barbaric murders. Yet there has been no response.

We shall now be underpinning the responsibility and accountability of the Republic of Armenia, which is constitutionally designated to protect Armenian citizens in foreign countries trough MFA and Embassies abroad. We are going to demand concrete and prompt actions of Armenian Government towards slack and unclear legal processes, legal arbitrariness and disrespect for Armenian citizens and ethnic Armenians in the Russian Federation.

Please do not stay ignorant, TAKE ACTION! Join us today, November 17 at 15:00 in front of Ministry of Foreign Affairs to show your support against these murders of ethnic Armenians in Russia.

Protest action today, November 17, 2006
3PM
in front of Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Gay Rights

2006-10-29T01:45:00.000-08:00

Gay, straight, bisexual: how much does sexual orientation matter to a sense of identity and a role in a society? Everybody in this society has a sexual orientation, but shall this difference make any sense in a social life and civil rights? Depending on our sexuality we all have different desires and attractions , but when the problem is about the rights and role in the society, there is one thing that should make everybody equal: the concept of human being. Each of us has his/her personal perceptions (values, beliefs and cognitions). And according to the Bill of Rights and Civil Liberties everybody should be equal no matter of race, color, sexual orientation, religion and etc….
Every human being has a free will and a freedom of choice. Sometimes this moral code is infringed based on many reasons, one of which is the sexual orientation. First of all, let me briefly explain what sexual; orientation is: “Sexual orientation refers to the sex, sexes, gender or genders, to which a person is attracted and which form the focus of a person's amorous or erotic desires, fantasies, and spontaneous feelings.” (en.wikipedia.org). It’s the whole expression of our feelings, desires and emotions towards the people that we are attracted with. It contains the understanding of such feelings such as Love, Attraction, Desire and Satisfaction.
Is it really a big issue that a man can be attracted to a man and fall in love with him? Or should one’s sexual orientation change his/her role in the society where he/she acts? To these questions I don’t even hesitate to answer “NO”. One’s sexual orientation has nothing to do with his/her importance in the society. What is all this discrimination about? Lesbians and gay men are discriminated against at many levels at this society. They may face the toughest battle for equality. However, Democratic Socialists believe that the sexual preference should be recognized as a matter of individual choice, a basic democratic right. This is a free democratic society with political and economic equalities, which means equality in employment, housing, education, health care, taking part in political and social life. Seems there should not be any problems.
If you ask anyone, they will tell you they are in favor of equal rights for homosexuals. They will say gays should have the same rights in housing, jobs, public accommodations, and should have equal access to government benefits and equal protection by the law. But if you specify your question and ask about the gay marriage, all this talk of equality stops dead cold.
More than half of all people in the United States oppose gay marriage, even though three fourths are otherwise supportive of gay rights. This means that many of the same people who are even passionately in favor of gay rights oppose gays on this one issue.
Why is there such controversy?
It’s because there is a lot of misunderstanding what homosexuality really is, as well as the erroneous assumption that gay people enjoy the same civil rights, protections as everyone else. The opponents of the gay marriage bring a lot of arguments these days, and they are usually variations of a few well-established themes.
A marriage is an institution between one man and one woman: that’s the most frequently heard argument, one even codified in a recently passed U.S. federal law. You can’t deny people, their rights, unless you can show a compelling reason to deny them in the very basis of American ideal of human rights. As the civil right laws in this country state that everyone is equal, gay people should be granted rights, especially regarding marriage and all the legal protections that go along with it.
Granting gays the right to marry is a special right. The opposition to gay marriage stems ultimately from a deep-seated homophobia in this culture; while many people don’t realize that homophobia exists to the extent that whatever it does is a very real part of every gay person’s life. It is there, and it has far more serious consequences for American society than most Americans realize, not just for gay people, but for the society in general.
When gay people say that this is a civil rights issue, we are referring to matters to civil justice, which often can be quite serious, and can have life-damaging, even life- threatening consequences. Sexual orientation is a private matter and the government doesn’t belong in individuals’ bedrooms.
Anyway, now some states have the legal civil unions for gay people, so homosexuals can get married as heterosexuals under the same laws and rights.
In Dec 1999, The Hawaii Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, in April 2000, the Vermont House of Representatives gave a final approval to same-sex marriages, in June 2000, the Supreme Court of New Jersey accepted it too, in 2004 Massachusetts legalized the gay marriage (http://speakout.com/activism/gayrights/).
Another aspect of this is the adoption. 19 states allow gay and lesbian couples to adopt children in a complex and expensive two-step process, in which one parent first adopts and then the second can petition for joint rights.( Sean Cahill,” Same –sex Marriage in the United States”).
Legalizing the gay marriage step by step is the biggest right for gay people, as they can make unions and enjoy their entire life together. But this doesn’t solve the problem of discrimination. California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Islands, Vermont, Wisconsin and Nevada prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Colorado, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Washington ban discrimination in public employment based on sexual orientation.
Why is it still so? Gay relationships are immoral? Who says? The Bible? I always thought that religion implied the right of freedom from religion as well. At this point, not all world religions have a problem with homosexuality; many sects of Buddhism celebrate gay relationships freely. The Bible has absolutely no standing in American law. So if one believes in religious freedom, the recognition that opposition to gay marriage is based on religious arguments is unreasonable enough to discount this argument. People with profound and deep religious beliefs that don’t accept the conception of homosexuality and try to evict the homosexual individuals from the society always make me wonder: are they actually religious? Do they realize such religious concepts as love, care, humanity, open-mindedness, generosity?
People should understand that being a gay it’s not their choice. Scientists so far divided homosexuality into two parts: natural and nurtured. The basis behind the natural theory for homosexuality is that individuals are born with certain genetic makeup, which predetermines their homosexual orientation. On the other hand, the nurtured theory believes that one’s environment and experiences can predetermine one’s sexual orientation.
I know that heterosexuals consider gay relationships to be merely a sexual perversion. But the homosexuality is multidimensional and is much more about love and affection. That’s what gay relationships are based on- mutual attraction, love and affection. As I’ve already mentioned above, being a gay is part of that person’s core identity, and goes right the very center of his being. It’s like being black in a society of whites. Yes, being gay is just that profound to the person. This is something that few heterosexuals can understand unless they are the part of minority themselves. And let’s remember the Declaration of Independence, where Thomas Jefferson says:”All human beings are created equally”. Yes and this is absolutely true, they are created equally and should be treated equally, have equal rights and their own role in this society.
But will the discrimination towards the sexual orientation be illuminated from the world one day? I wish I could answer to this question….

the Armenian-Jewish connection

2006-10-26T00:45:00.000-07:00

Upon receiving an email from Talene, one of the administrators of the blog, Կենաց-לחיים or "Genats-Lehayim", I was not very quick to respond and check out their website. I have now begun to catch up with everything and I apologize for not doing this earlier. Things have been crazy and hectic with work and there's too many excuses and will not go there...

So I have checked out Genats-Lehayim blog and really it is interesting. I recommend you check it out as well.

As they say in their mission statement:

The symbolic birthday of this blog is April 24, 2006. Since 1965, people around the world commemorate the Armenian Genocide on that day. In 2006, Yom ha-Shoah, the remembrance day for the Holocaust, which is observed on the Hebrew calendar date of Nisan 27, fell on April 25. It seemed like a perfect opportunity for Armenians and Jews in the diaspora to cooperate in ceremonies to mourn the victims of the past and to stand united against genocide today. Not much of the sort occurred; rather, we were struck by the lack of mutual acknowledgement...

There is another front on which one would expect Armenians and Jews to be natural allies: the struggle against the ongoing denial of genocide. Unfortunately, here, too, we have let ourselves become divided. This forum is an effort to rectify the present set of circumstances by bringing together news and analysis, individuals and organizations from the diasporas, Armenia, and Israel to work on our common concerns.

Interestingly, it's not just the struggle of denial against genocide that unites the Armenian and Jewish people. Not only do Talene and Amos discuss this issue, but they also have various interesting posts regarding this connection between the ancient civilizations. Amos' most recent post is about this latest issue regarding genocide denial and the French legislation and how the New York Times is in "genocide denial". Check it out here

This blog is a unique collaborative effort- keep up the good work and I look forward to reading your posts!

Traffic in Yerevan , Armenia

2006-10-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well.Im doing blogging again , and this time the plot is a very interesting one. I would like to talk about the traffic in Yerevan , Armenia.I always knew how bad it was , abut now coming from the United States I realized how much it sucks.
So as we know in every civilized society there are traffic regulations, and obviously we have those regulations too. Lets say what is bothering me.
Lets start from the cars, you can see all kinds of cars , and contrast is just killing , very expensive ones and veeeeeery old soviet cars and trucks, that should have been out a long time ago. But still this is not a real problem we should admit it , first when you get one road to drive there are no lanes to follow your way, if the street is supposed to take 3 lanes in each direction , now its a bizzare situation, its just like a crowd, cars are going in a messy way even crossing the massive lines of the roads, who cares????
And plus to this there is no speed limit, so can you picture that road?? No lanes , no speed limits, no rules, so driving here just makes you sick , and if the pedestrian wants to cross the street in a appropriate place there can be a car right in that place , he is waiting for the red light to go, WHAT THE FUCK , he is not supposed to be there so the cars are going , people cross the street wherever they want, and its getting a one huge massive mass. Oh yeah, even in one way street you have no guarantee that you wont be hurt from the other side, so youd better be secure and careful.
As we all know there are special parking spots at the streets , but in Armenia it is parking spot everywhere, you can park your car wherever you want, NO FINE TICKETIf you want you can park even on a sidewalk, we should admit this one is just over control.
And in this whole fucked up situation , obviously there are some policemen at the streets, they are there for hunting, but now following the rules. If accidentally you are not lucky that day and your car is getting towed, you just give 1 or 2 $ to him , and you are all set, so as you see the corruption works really good over here. MONEY DOES EVERYTHING HERE, YOU HAVE IT , YOU GOT IT.
No seatbelts are required in Yerevan , there are no laws against it. You should be 16(how I know) to get a license, but you can drive underage too if you have money.
Oh and lets talk about the amazing public transportation in Yerevan , its just unique , no other country has such attraction, thats just killing me. We have all kinds of transportations, buses, micro buses(marshutka), trolley buses, subway and the rails of trains , but the trains dont exist just the rails, so ridiculous . You can get everywhere in a city with public transportation , and it costs 25 cents, what about the buses they are not that bad, I mean they are old , but anyways, but when the case is coming to the micro buses , I need to take a breathe right here. Ok so let me go on telling the details, those are small buses , which are the most popular in the country. So technically there are like 15 seats in the damn bus, but it cares 35 people at the same time ,so if you are smart enough go figure. It is so self humiliating to ride those buses , because you cant feel the parts of your own body, and somebody else can be on you literally you can feel their bodies . Where is the personal space , is so humiliating. There are no specific stops for those buses people can stop them whenever and wherever they want, like in every corner, even in the middle of the street, so if you are brave enough just get out of that fuckin machine. Oh the drivers those should be in museums , they are just so different and unique in their way, the rudeness of those has no limits. So basically its a struggle to ride a bus, if you are smart enough you will place your body in that self humiliating car. After all this safe ride
Oh yeah and the roads , I forgot this important factor, they are just miserable, its like a roller coaster to drive , there are halls everywhere, especially out of downtown area , ph my god when this country is gonna be a country. There is always a budget for such things , but the ministers take this money and build a house for themselves on that roads, a very nice palace for their own , just not giving a fuck about the people. They do what they want. Where you can see such things? Thats why Im saying that this not a country, its just absurd to call this a country, this just a geographic space where a ethnic group of people live , oh it was too much , to survive , this is the right word.
Im not exaggerating anything , everybody is welcome to Armenia to see all this staff with their own eyes. Come on in , this is an amazing place to be , to entertain yourself seeing all these ridiculous thingsCome on in

Barev Pradafreak...

2006-10-23T07:37:00.000-07:00

and now joining us on ArmYouth Blog is Pradafreak...

After reading some posts on ArmYouth, Pradafreak expressed the desire to contribute to ArmYouth as well. I will not say much as I would rather have Pradafreak do the talking but just wanted to say welcome to ArmYouth :) nice to have you on board and look forward to your posts!

A movement of Bicycles and Pedestrians in Yerevan

2006-10-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

Critical Mass was organized in Yerevan for the first time ever. This event took place on on October 22nd, as about 20 bicyclists gathered in front of Matenadaran and a few of us pedestrians met up with them there to help them with the start of their bicycle ride in downtown. The bicyclists hit the streets and peddled along and the pedestrians followed. (Not all the way of course, we surely couldn’t keep up!)

The purpose of the event was essentially to support alternative modes of transportation in Yerevan. Sadly, the city is becoming much dirtier and people are becoming sicker with various different respiratory diseases. Onnik’s post at One World “Yerevan is suffocating” sums it up well and refers us to an article on EurasiaNet.org entitled “Armenia: Environmental Change Spurs Respiratory Diseases” which explains the problem regarding pollution, environmental damage and how all of this is beginning to impact the health of Armenian citizens. When you are living in Yerevan, you realize how dirty the air is. For some reason it becomes even more shocking when you see it in statistics and numbers.

The increasing number of cars in Yerevan is one of the factors which has caused for such pollution. Let’s say you want to actually use a bicycle, a more eco-friendly way to travel to work or school, your lungs would probably collapse as you try to peddle uphill on Baghramian Avenue simply with the amount of car emission hitting your face as you gasp to get somewhere. Who needs that? So for that, many people choose not to use a bicycle. That and most bicyclists say it is virtually impossible for them to get around because cars don’t want to give them the right of way and even purposely try to block them from their paths! Also, there is no designated lane for bicycles on the streets.

So Critical Mass movement was organized in Yerevan to somehow respond to this all….

According to Wikipedia, the Critical Mass movement is:
“a bike ride typically held on the last Friday of every month in cities around the world where bicyclists and, less frequently, skateboarders, roller bladers, roller skaters and other self-propelled commuters take to the streets en masse. Critical Mass is not led, and has no officially-stated message, though it is largely understood to be an effort to promote alternative (non-motorized) modes of transportation and to raise awareness about the safety issues that face commuters using non-motorized forms of transportation when sharing the streets with motor vehicles. Participants meet at a set location and time and enjoy the security and companionship of travelling as a group through city streets intentionally causing a mild and temporary disruption to vehicle traffic. The general philosophy behind the ride is expressed in the widely-used slogan, "We aren't blocking traffic; we are traffic."

However, I don’t tend to agree COMPLETELY with this definition. As the whole movement behind Critical Mass is to support alternative means of trasportation and to encourage “other self-propelled commuters take to the streets en masse”… aren’t your feet yet another way to get around? Especially in Yerevan, walking around in the streets of downtown is much more convenient then hopping onto the metro or marshutka (of course it is a bit more difficult when you get to the outskirts of the city).

Yet here’s another problem- now, as we pedestrians are trying to cross the streets on the designated pedestrian crosswalks when the green light is lit for the pedestrians to walk – we can’t even cross the street! So some of us tend to jaywalk every once in a while ( I myself am guilty!) but the fact of the matter is, you are going to want to cross the street WHENEVER you have the opportunity to because if you don’t, you will either wait 4 hours or get hit by a car. You choose the more eco-friendly route of walking around in the streets of downtown Yerevan and it is ever so difficult because cars don’t want to let you go. Then on top of that, if the Stoplight is red, there are certain expensive cars with specific “Golden numbers” that get the right of way ALWAYS. They don’t stop for pedestrians, drive 100 times faster than they should on these crowded streets and don’t get pulled over by the police because they belong to a certain clan or group of other people like them who have these “golden numbers” (in other words, some friends, family of oligarchs, presidents, ministers…you get the picture!).

So we pedestrians were walking around and crossing the streets and demanding that cars actually respect our right to cross the street at that moment.

I was rather disappointed with the turnout of young Armenian people to this event. More specifically, this idea came from people who were complaining about the traffic and how they cannot cross the streets – and these were the very people that did not turn out to this event! Most of those who took part were people who were volunteers from another country or diasporan Armenians (not ALL of course, there was some representation of young Armenians) On the other hand, there were a few people that joined our cause along the way. And interestingly enough, there was this one group of boys around the age of 10-12 years old who were talking to each other. I couldn’t help but laugh at what they were saying as they explained, “so how come these Diasporans are coming and defending our rights for us? We should defend our rights ourselves!”

Anyway, the act was supported by everybody “in spirit” but a lot of people were sick or had a birthday party or some other event to attend to. So for these reasons, turnout on the pedestrian front was rather weak. However, when it comes to Armenians complaining – they are very willing to do it! Frankly, I have thought about writing this before, but it’s rather sad because so many young Armenians do not feel like they belong to this society. But I will leave that thought for another post. I only hope that sooner rather than later at least the young people will begin to start acting on what they have complaints about and not just sitting and complaining. Especially since the parliamentary elections are coming up in 2007 and presidential elections in 2008…

The photos on this post were taken by Fouad Achiba, EVS Volunteer at Civil Society Institute

Calling all Bicyclers and Pedestrians in Yerevan!!

2006-10-18T03:49:00.000-07:00

Critical Mass and "The Right to Walk" movement will be held in Yerevan on Sunday, October 22nd starting at 5PM...

ABOUT CRITICAL MASS...

Critical Mass is not an organization,
it’s an unorganized coincidence, it’s a movement …
of bicycles, in the streets

hurry up!!!
all you need is … a bicycle
On OCTOBER 22
it’s the first time

the ride starts in front of Matenadaran at 5:30pm

Join our email list criticacanzangvats@yahoogroups.com

we don’t stop traffic … we ARE traffic

AND IF YOU DO NOT OWN A BICYCLE AND ARE SIMPLY TRYING TO CROSS THE STREETS IN YEREVAN...

"The Right to Walk" movement will be held ALSO on Sunday Oct. 22

ABOUT THE RIGHT TO WALK...

For every time YOU CROSS THE STREET
and have THAT WORRY

For every time the CHILDREN
have to RUN ACROSS the STREET

STOP FOR PEDESTRIANS
JOIN US!
22 OCTOBER (SUNDAY)
@Republic Square in front of the BIG TELEVISION 5:00PM

Human Rights Watch criticizes the imprisonment of three Armenian soldiers

2006-09-14T01:27:00.000-07:00

Emil Danielyan at Armenia Liberty writes that HRW is criticizing and asking for the Armenian government to reconsider the life imprisonment sentence given to the three Armenian soldiers, Razmik Sargsyan, Arayik Zalyan, Musa Serobyan - the article is here "U.S. Watchdog Defends Armenian Soldiers Jailed For Life"

This story was one of the first articles I had written about back in January 2006.

Yet I just wanted to call attention to the most alarming fact that was presented at the end of the article,

"Armenia’s Office of the Military Prosecutor reported 19 such deaths during the first half of this year. The official crime statistics show that Armenian soldiers are at much greater risk of dying at the hands of their commanders and comrades than from enemy fire."

And these are only the OFFICIAL crime statistics! What is happening in the army? How ironic that these young men who are serving the country being murdered by their own Commanders.

It is due to these types of stories and situations that one begins to wonder…

I know of a few young Armenians who have served in the army or are currently serving. After they are done with their service, these young men explain that they feel like they have just wasted the past two years of their life. And frankly, when they come out of the army and are looking for a job or maybe applying to university to continue their education, what are they supposed to explain on their resumes or their personal statements? … “I have just completed my service to the RA National Army and I learned absolutely nothing. My Commanders are a pack of thieves and are rewarded for acting the way they do. I have obtained no skills and the only experience I have gained is the fact that Army is not a place that anybody should be…”

So why should these young men want to conscript? Why should Armenian young men continue to be proud of their country, their citizenship and want to actually stay after seeing and hearing about things like this? And the ironic part of all is that the Army is probably the MOST nationalistic institution and they are very often showing television documentaries about the Karabakh war and how we must respect those who have lost their lives in battle. How about we also consider respecting those Armenian youth who are actually staying alive and serving in the army? An interesting thought.

Futbol, the Armenian flag and Breaking Social Norms

2006-09-07T03:06:00.000-07:00

Armenians have quite interesting reactions when they see something that is “out of the ordinary”. A few of my friends and I were getting ready to go to the futbol game, Armenia vs. Belgium and we decided to show Armenian patriotism – on our faces. So we painted our faces with the tricolor of the Armenian flag. (In case you are interested, we used lipstick and eyeliner.)

here are my freinds at the stadium

As we were in public and waiting for our ride, everybody was quite amused by the painting on our faces. There were a few younger kids (probably around 5-6 years old) who just kept laughing, and it was such a joy to see these kids just laugh really hard. Then there were a couple of older males who were also quite amused and I would say their ages were about mid 40’s- 50’s. Funny thing is they were acting as mature as the 5-6 year olds…

Then there were others who were simply scared and were gasping as they saw my friends’ faces, saying “what is that?” in Armenian. It was even funnier to see their reaction when one of my friends would respond in Armenian language and say, “it’s the Armenian tricolor.”

Thing is, it is not very typical for an Armenian to do such things. Obviously, this explains the shock factor. But also, it is not within the social norm in Armenia to really “stand out” by doing such things as painting your face with the tricolors of the flag. This reminds me of an article I wrote a while back about how people react when they see people who wear different clothes, with holes in their jeans, or have long hair or when guys have earrings. Armenians tend to not be so “accepting” of these different choices in style. And of course, we knew that we would get a similar reaction when painting our faces.

So we get to the game, and of course the staring and the reactions continue. Although at this point, it did not seem so out of place because other fans who had come to the futbol game were also showing their pride by carrying the flag or wearing one on their heads.

And of course the stadium was PACKED with men. I had attended a few futbol games in Yerevan a few years back and knew that this would be the case. On our way to the stadium, I had mentioned that many women do not tend to attend futbol games and the guys with me were disagreeing. They were explaining no, lately there have been MANY girls attending the futbol games… You should’ve seen how many there were last time, they expressed. Well, we got to the stadium and I was able to count on my hands how many girls were actually present at the game. Not many girls attend futbol games.

We screamed “Hayasdan” and cheered on the team as they tried to score at least 1 goal against the Belgian team whose players were probably 2 meters in height. However, our chanting and screaming was to no avail as Armenia lost the game to Belgium 0-1. No worries, though, it was a good time!

And as we were pushing and shoving trying to get out of the stadium, one of the boys walking next to us looks at our faces and says to his friends, “Ara, et Belkiakan troshn e?” which means “Is that the Belgian flag?”. I turn to him and responded in Armenian, “No, it’s the Armenian tricolor of course. Can’t you see?” Boy was he surprised that these STRANGE looking faces were actually responding to him in Armenian!

I guess they thought that Armenians would not do such things as paint their faces for a futbol. They figure that Belgians would be the only people who would do such things. Could this be the reason why they did not see the obvious red, blue and orange colors clearly on our faces? Surely when these talking painted faces responded to them in Armenian, it surprised them. And one more thing is for sure, we need many more people not only in Yerevan but in the whole world breaking social norms in public. Go ahead people, break a social norm or two today if you can! I dare you to do it!

Batumi and the Armenians- what a small world!

2006-09-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Batumi is THE vacation place for Armenians. And if Batumi was not enough, those Armenians have now started moving onto taking a vacation in the surrounding villages like Kobuleti …

I spent a week in August in Batumi, Georgia for a seminar entitled “Swapping Cultures Initiative as a Tool for Promoting Peace Training Course” and we engaged in discussions regarding minority issues and intercultural exchanges. With the Armenians being one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Georgia, the organizers of the seminar had previously arranged for a meeting with the Batumi community there.

What a small world. One leaves Armenia and bumps into every other Armenian already in Batumi. Then, the organizers of the Training Course arrange for a meeting with the Batumi Armenian community. I did not even know of this event and was quite surprised and delighted.

So off we went to this meeting with the Batumi Armenian community. And there I was to realize what an even smaller world this place really is…

One of the leaders of the Armenian Batumi community, Grigory Vardanyan gave us a brief overview about the community there. Some of the major issues facing the Armenian-Georgian community are assimilation, poor quality of the education system and the lack of jobs.

Barely able to speak Armenian himself, he spoke in Russian to me and explained how the Armenian community was not really able to speak the Armenian language. He pointed out that the poor quality of the Armenians schools in the city were the reason for this. The so-called Armenian schools are not really teaching Armenian language, rather providing an education in the Russian language. And on top of that, the quality of education is so poor that most of the students who attend these schools are not able to be admitted into a Georgian university upon graduation. For this reason, the enrollment in Armenian schools is beginning to decline and quality is decreasing with it as well.

Yet another issue he raised was the fact that the Armenians were not able to obtain employment so many of them were leaving for Russia. As he explained this I kept thinking how this was also a very common problem in Armenia as well.

Among our group of participants there were young people from many different countries, such as Latvia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Bulgaria and the UK.

During our discussion with Mr. Vardanyan, one of the Turkish representatives mentioned that he is from Bayburt, a city which is now in Eastern Turkey and is known to have a thriving Armenian population during the Ottoman Empire. Mr. Vardanyan’s eyes lit up and as he explained my grandmother is from Bayburt as well.

He started telling the story about how his grandmother left Bayburt and his family was split up after the Genocide. It turns out that Mr. Vardanyan’s grandmother's sister ended up going to Providence, RI, the city I was born and raised! My eyes lit up! An even smaller world…

Apparently, Mr. Vardanyan explained has been looking for his family in Providence for the past 4-5 years and has had no luck. After exchanging contact information with him, I let him know I would be very willing to help him find his family in Providence. Considering this city has quite a small Armenian community (with around 10-15,000 people), I am hoping and seeking to make this connection for him.

Prior to going to Batumi, I knew and had heard of this place as being THE place for Armenians to go on vacation. And certainly, I bumped into many people from Yerevan that I know. However, it became a much SMALLER world after making this connection.

Meronq website

2006-08-31T23:19:00.000-07:00

a new website which may be of interest, it's called Meronq

Check out Meronq

Meronq.com is a big balloon we let go in August 2006.
The idea is simple: we stroll through Armenia and bring what we see to Meronq.com.

To have a better idea about the life, mentality and perception of Our People.
To focus not on the timely problems, but to stand close to them and feel their uniqueness.

Military Training for the Armenian Youth

2006-07-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

Armenian schools are introducing military training within the classrooms and to their students at even younger ages, reports IWPR.
Although military training is compulsory for pupils aged 16 to 18 in Armenia, School No. 99 has introduced it for younger children. Groups involved in children’s rights are worried about the effect an early dose of militarism will have on young minds, not least because the 11 other schools where the government now plans to roll out a similar pilot scheme cater for children from vulnerable backgrounds.

photo is from IWPR website

According to the IWPR report, the teachers wanted to increase obedience and order in the classroom because the children were misbehaving. A headmastress explains that putting them in uniform seems to make them listen to their teachers and are more responsible in the classroom.

One of my favorite quotes within this report is from Sarkis who is only 11 years old. He explains,
“We are studying military science,” said Sarkis, 11. “We learn how to crawl round enemies and kill them."

Wonderful.

Apparently, these military trainings are not only limited to the boys in the school but are also including the girls as well. Talk about gender balance.

Yet as Aelita explains,
“We’ve learnt how to handle a machine-gun, and studied some aspects of military strategy, tactics, and ways of surrounding and defeating an enemy… I’d say the girls are treated more leniently than the boys, and they get good marks more easily.”

Interestingly enough, this School no. 99 which is implementing this Military Science class is in a rather poorer region in Yerevan where many of the students come from single parent homes.

So here you have students who are coming from the rather poorer socioeconomic strata within Armenian society being educated and trained in this militaristic fashion at ages as young as 11 or 12 years old. Could this be a way to prepare the men for their compulsory service after they graduate school or university? Or is this yet another tactic to make these students become “obedient” and learn to not think critically? Surely, what these young students need to obtain are these tools to begin to think critically and analytically. Especially since this is an area which seriously needs some development in Armenia and its future generations. It seems that one of the Soviet legacies which have continue to remain prevalent today is the lack of critical thinking and questioning of authorities. One of the most difficult things is asking Armenians to fill out Evaluation forms, because they tend to only praise the event which took place or forum that was organized. No critical comments.

Sidetracked a bit there but I could not help it, I had to add that last bit.

In any case, the IWPR report is extremely interesting and there is much more interesting information so I recommend reading the rest of the report.

Should you be interested in hearing more about this issue…
IWPR is holding a Round Table at their office at 39 Yeznik Koghbatzi on August 2 at 14:00.

Havlabar, the Armenian quarter in Tbilisi

2006-07-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

It seems that no matter where you go in this world, you will find an Armenian. Well maybe almost anywhere. In Tbilisi, everyone knows there is a huge Armenian population. And it seemed as though everywhere I went, I was speaking more Armenian than I thought I would …

So we ventured off to Tbilisi last week to welcome our new EVS volunteers to CSI. I thought that I would be able to practice the little Russian that I have been learning while I have been in Armenia. I would signal for a cab and use my two words of Russian that I knew. Then, their next question would be- “Are you Armenian?”
the Armenian Church in Havlabar

Ironically, every time I tried to speak Russian, people would respond to me in Armenian. So much for trying to speak Russian!

Here is a woman whom we asked where a certain place was and she took us all the way to the location. After that, she kept asking us questions and turned out she was Armenian as well... a very adament and persistent Armenian at that!

Havlabar, “the Armenian section”

Next stop is the city of Batumi which is where many Armenians go to take a vacation. Turns out most restaurant owners and entrepreneurs there are Armenian as well. Will report on that soon!

EVS Volunteers in Armenia

2006-07-25T02:56:00.000-07:00

So within the long period of absence, I have been to Tbilisi with Artak, president of CSI, and we returned with two EVS volunteers we will be hosting, Fouad (France) and Julius (Lithuania).

They will be here for 9 months and volunteering in the Civil Society Network program. At first they will be living in Yerevan and after they get a few Armenian language lessons, get over the initial "culture shock" and absorb Armenian culture, its history and contemporary situation – CSI will be locating them in the regions. So in most likelihood they will be living in Berd, Dilijan or one of these communities in the Tavush and Gegharkunik marzes, which are the areas we are working in within the Civil Society Network program. And I actually think this will be the first time EVS volunteers will actually be living in the regions…

Last year around this time, Marieke and Sanne had come to Armenia as EVS volunteers from the Netherlands. I believe they sincerely felt welcomed in Armenia by BEM NGO as well as the Armenian people. Sanne returned to her home in Utrecht and started a blog in which she was recording some thoughts and ideas about her experiences. It seems as though she is a bit busy with life and her job so I hope for all the best. Wishing all the best to Marieke as well.

So I will have to ask Fouad and Julius to write a few words about themselves. Right now, they are off to Berd for a few days and then who knows after that... My hope is that Fouad and Julius will also gain just as many invaluable experiences in Armenia as Marieke and Sanne did.

16 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union…

2006-07-10T04:50:00.000-07:00

and in Armenia, remnants of the Soviet Union still remain.

These pictures are from the School at Verin Karmir Aghbiur Kyugh aka “Upper Red Well Village”. Verin Karmir is a village just outside of the city of Berd in Tavush marz.

a map of the Soviet Union on the floor of the school
Ironically it is falling apart…

"pionirakan oreruh"

WHO SHOULD BE CHANGED?

2006-07-07T02:33:00.000-07:00

I think there are very few people, who think there is no need of changes in Armenia. Almost every Armenian, almost every day says a bad thing about the whole Armenian nation. For example how impolite they are, how rabiz they are, how corrupt the government is and how everything is bad. However, almost every one who says such things is doing the same things he is complaining about. For example if you ask a man who has just crossed the street at the wrong place about the traffic in Yerevan, he will complain about the owners of Hummers and BMs who drive very fast. He will not even think for a moment that he has also just broken the law. In Armenia every one wants the law to act but no one cares about it and if in Ovir someone asks you for a bribe your not even trying to figure out if it is legal to give 1000 AMD for some dimum. You are just giving that 1000 dram to avoid wasting time. That is not how fair Societies were build. If you want changes, fairness and law, first you have to force yourself not to break the law and than follow that others do not do the same. However, it is easier to blame someone else and show that s/he is breaking the law than to force ourselves not to do the same. In Armenia there is an impression that every one has tired of every thing. There is an impression that no one would stand and fight to change even a little, concerning their every day life. No one would say anything to the driver who stopped his car in the middle of the walkway in the street, s/he will turn around the car and continue passing the street in dangerous place and wont even try to look at the drivers dull animal face staring at you. In Armenia there is a weak belief that s/he is able to protect his/her own rights with the help of struggling for those rights. Well in some point they are disappointed and others can understand them. However, many changes depend just on us. We can change many things but do not want to bother ourselves with such kind of things.

Tip for the day: How to fight corruption

2006-06-27T02:27:00.000-07:00

There are many unpleasant places and people in institutions that sometimes you just have to deal with. One of those unpleasant places for me has been OVIR. I absolutely dread going to this place. So don't many Armenians as well. For those of you who are not familiar with this place, I'm actually not sure as to what the acronym spells out to but I know that this is the place where Armenians and foreigners must go in order to receive visas, residence visas, passport renewals and such documents. It is extremely bureacratic and the first time I went to this place, I left the building crying. Let's just say this place is not very freindly to its "customers."

I've decided to apply for the 10 year Armenian passport which would allow me to come back and forth to Armenia without needing a visa each time. Thus, I'm going through the process and getting the required paperwork to do this. There is one document they require which is a letter which explains what I am applying for and to whom and for what reason. Many of the Armenians have also told me about this. In fact, a lawyer friend of mine said that they ask for 1,000 trams (about $2-3) for writing a letter on a blank piece of paper by hand. It's really not very difficult, all I had to do was write in Armenian (which I can do, also to my advantage) that I am seeking a 10 year passport and the reason. Some Armenians have become smart about this and realized that they can do this themselves and were asking who they should write the letter to and actually writing the letters themselves.

But what my lawyer freind also told me was that they do not have the right to ask for this 1,000 trams because they do not have a machine in which they can print receipts. Thus, this person who cannot print "receipts" or "checks" or even place a stamp on a hand-written document, does not have the right to ask for money. So her advice was to ask for a receipt every time I pay money.

I took her advice and it worked. The woman asked for the 1,000 trams and I said, that's fine I just need a receipt. She said, well I can't really give you a receipt this and that. I explained, well I can't really pay you unless you can provide me with a receipt. She gave up really quickly and gave me the letter and told me to go up to the second floor.

So if there is one hint I can give to you all, it's this. If you feel like you are doubting whether or not you should be paying money for something, ask for a receipt or "check" or a stamped document that shows that you paid this money.

Really, the 1,000 trams is not much but it's just the principle. I am just not willing to support the corruption in the system and in these not-so-pleasant places.

Che wants changes

2006-06-26T03:28:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone!
Tamar has done another good thing and invited us to contribute ArmYouth blog. ArmYouth blog gives us another chance to express and share our ideas and thoughts concerning our reality. I would like to say that my English is not excelent and would like to make excuses for that, but I will try my best though I think that the most important is not how but what I am writing about. I look forward to writing about interesting things and share my ideas with all of you.

Ché

Armenian Volunteer Blog

2006-06-20T02:03:00.000-07:00

Anoush Tatevossian, Exec Director at Armenian Volunteer Corps has informed me of a blog they are keeping at AVC.

"We established this blog because it's important for the outside world to know what type of work and progress our volunteers are involved in. Armenia is a developing country and the presence of each volunteer leaves a footprint in the country's malleable future," explains Anoush.

To view the AVC blog ...

Armenian Volunteer Corps Blog

[ All photos are from Armenian Volunteer Blog website ]

Armenian youth writing...

2006-06-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

for those of you who are interested...
Right now I'm in the process of talking and inviting Armenian youth living in Armenia to become contributors to this blog. Occasionally you will have noticed that I had invited Armenian youth to write articles and they were very pleased to do so. However, I am now seeking to "get this party started" as they say.

There is now a Contributors section added to this blog. I, myself, will be posting as Akhtamar from now on.

I'm working on inviting the Armenian youth living in Armenia now and then my next step will be to invite Armenian Diasporan Youth to also contribute to this blog. So in the end, I am seeking to start a conversation not only among the Armenian youth here in Armenia but also with Armenians living in the Diaspora.

Should you be interested, kindly let me know. My email is tamarpalandjian@yahoo.com

So as the new contributors to this blog become established, I would like to preliminarily welcome you and say happy writing.

Cheers!